Farmer dies after falling from greenhouse roof during ICE raid in California
Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first person to die as a result of Donald Trump's ICE raids.
His niece, Yesenia Duran, posted on the fundraising site GoFundMe to say her uncle was his family's only provider and he had been sending his earnings back to his wife and daughter in Mexico.
The United Food Workers said Mr Alanis had worked on the farm for 10 years.
"These violent and cruel federal actions terrorise American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families," the union said in a recent statement on X.
4:28
The Department of Homeland Security said it executed criminal search warrants at Glass House Farms facilities on Thursday.
Mr Alanis called family to say he was hiding and possibly fleeing agents before he fell around 30ft (9m) from the roof and broke his neck, according to information from family, hospital and government sources.
Agents arrested 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally and identified at least 10 immigrant children on the sites, the DHS said in a statement.
Mr Alanis was not among them, the agency said.
"This man was not in and has not been in CBP or ICE custody," DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said.
"Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30ft. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible."
Four US citizens were arrested during the incident for allegedly "assaulting or resisting officers", the DHS said, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.
In a statement, Glass House, a licensed Cannabis grower, said immigration agents had valid warrants. It said workers were detained and it is helping provide them with legal representation.
"Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors," it added.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
24 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Obama speechwriter says he was wrong to shun conservative brother-in-law over Joe Rogan and vaccine views
Former speechwriter for President Barack Obama, David Litt, is opening up about why he was wrong to shun his conservative brother-in-law during the pandemic over their drastically different views. Litt revealed in an opinion piece for the New York Times that he approached his relationship with his brother-in-law, Matt Kappler, with a 'frostiness' due to his love of Joe Rogan and refusal to get vaccinated against COVID-19. 'Being unfriendly to people who turned down the vaccine felt like the right thing to do. How else could we motivate them to mend their ways?' Litt argued. The former Obama aide admitted that he never related to Kappler, joking that his brother-in-law was an electrician who lifted weights and listened to death metal, while he worked in the White House and jogged to Sondheim. The pandemic exacerbated their already-frayed relationship when Kappler decided not to get the vaccine. 'We were on opposite sides of a cultural civil war. The deepest divide was vaccination,' Litt wrote. 'Turning down a vaccine during a pandemic seemed like a rejection of science and self-preservation,' he continued. 'It felt like he was tearing up the social contract that, until that point, I'd imagined we shared.' The moment of reconciliation came when Litt moved to the Jersey Shore in 2022 and decided to take up surfing as a hobby. The only person he knew who also enjoyed surfing was his Rogan super fan brother-in-law, so Litt put his 'principled unfriendliness aside.' Litt said Kappler would share opinions about Mexican stem-cell injections or vigilantism that he found 'slightly unhinged' during their time at sea. '"Where is this coming from?" I wondered. The answer was nearly always 'Joe Rogan's podcast."' Even though Litt's decision to reconcile with his brother came out of necessity for a surfing buddy, the Obama aide argued that liberals should rethink 'banishing' family members due to different political views. Litt argued that ostracizing those with conservative views hurts the person inflicting the separation more than the one getting banished. His new book, It's Only Drowning, details his journey learning to surf and mending his fractured relationship with his brother-in-law. In an interview with The Guardian, Litt said he started writing the book to chronicle his journey learning how to surf in his 30s, but it soon became a 'will-they, won't-they tale,' about befriending Kappler.. 'It's whether an Obama speechwriter and a Joe Rogan super fan can become friends,' he explained. 'Like a lot of Democrats, my natural inclination is to be a little annoying and condescending. I certainly wasn't doing that when I was the one who desperately needed to learn from him.' He told the publication that his relationship with Keppler illustrated the divides in the Democratic party. During Obama's elections in 2008 and 2012, the former president carried working class voters, but since 2016, non college-educated Americans have shifted towards the Republicans. Litt argued that Democrats are confined to their bubbles of college-educated individuals and aren't connected to working-class voters like his brother-in-law. He urged liberals to keep the door open to friendships with those who differ from them politically. Litt's new book came out in June. He also wrote a book titled Democracy In One Book Or Less in 2020 and Thanks, Obama: My Hopey, Changey White House Years in 2017. He also served as the head writer and producer on Funny Or Die and appears on broadcast television as a political commentator.
The Independent
29 minutes ago
- The Independent
Top Republicans says 2020 George Floyd riots were Biden's fault (despite Trump being president at the time)
Georgia Republican Mike Collins wildly came out to blame the 2020 civil unrest following the death of George Floyd on former president Joe Biden – who was not even in the Oval Office at the time. The southern congressman and several other House Republicans spoke Monday during a press conference held on the eve of the first anniversary of the failed assassination of President Donald Trump, Mediaite reported. 'It has been one year since they tried to kill our president,' the Georgia Rep said, seemingly trying to blame the shooting on a mysterious group rather than the known gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was a registered Republican. Ahead of the shooting, Crooks researched where Trump, Biden and then-Attorney General Merrick Garland would make public appearances; however, it was still unclear a year later why he chose to target Trump during his Butler, Pa., rally. 'I want to take just a quick moment to focus on what I call consequences and make two quick points. You know, the culture of lawlessness and violence, this didn't start last year,' Collins said of the shooting. 'This started under the Obama administration when they decided to illegally investigate conservative groups, when they were out there demonizing Republicans, who just simply wanted to follow the Constitution and make our country better,' he bizarrely claimed. Collins went on to blame the flurry of violence in 2020 – sparked by the killing of Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes as he begged for air – on Biden. Notably, Biden was not even president at the time. Trump was. 'Then you fast forward to the Biden administration, who they put this on steroids and actually allowed the public to take part in this game. Example? Summer of love, where rioters were out there burning police stations, assaulting officers, taking over our cities, where they were advocating to defund the men and women in blue who protect us,' Collins incorrectly stated. 'And they didn't just encourage it, y'all. They promoted it. They even paid for their bail,' Collins falsely claimed. The Republican claimed Americans place 'no value to the sanctity of life anymore,' and blamed 'socialist woke politicians' for the country's current state. Biden, who was not president at the time of Floyd's killing, was campaigning during the protests and riots in 2020. He eventually went on to win against Trump that November. The Democratic candidate gained a surge in fundraising following the flurry of protests, which saw thousands of people take to the streets in protest against police brutality and racism, according to a CNBC report at the time. Meanwhile, Trump drew sharp criticism over his poor reaction to the protests, which were largely peaceful but also saw some rioting in pockets across the nation, including in Minnesota, where Floyd was killed. Trump had been calling for a tougher response to the protests when he was caught staging a photo op outside a Washington, D.C., church. The then-president came under criticism after ordering police to violently remove George Floyd protesters from outside the church using tear gas and rubber bullets for him to take the staged photo. The image, which showed Trump sternly holding a bible outside St. John's Episcopal Church, was taken as protesters cried in the background, and was reportedly motivated by his fury over news coverage claiming he and his wife, Melania, were being rushed to the White House bunker in response to the protests.
The Independent
32 minutes ago
- The Independent
California's Gavin Newsom ramps up insults against ‘son of a b****' Trump
California Governor Gavin Newsom strongly criticised President Trump, calling him a "son of a b*****" over the "Gavin Newscum" moniker, which has led to Newsom's child being taunted at school. Newsom expressed his dislike for bullies and stated that Trump's behaviour triggers him, urging the President to "model better behaviour." The Governor previously tweeted that Trump was "the real scum" in response to a tear gas incident and also criticised Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration regarding the "illegal and unnecessary takeover of a CalGuard unit" during the LA riots. Newsom accused the Trump administration of using the second presidential term as a "petri dish" to test the limits of executive power, citing the deployment of the National Guard during the LA riots without his prior knowledge.
